A sensor for chemical species or biological species or radiation presenting to test fluid a polymer composition comprises polymer and conductive filler metal, alloy or reduced metal oxide and having a first level of electrical conductance when quiescent and being convertible to a second level of conductance by change of stress applied by stretching or compression or electric field, in which the polymer composition is characterized by at least one of the features in the form of particles at least 90% w/w held on a 100 mesh sieve; and/or comprising a permeable body extending across a channel of fluid flow; and/or affording in-and-out diffusion of test fluid and/or mechanically coupled to a workpiece of polymer swellable by a constituent of test fluid.
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1. A sensor comprising
i) a conduit for through-flow of a test fluid;
ii) a porous body of granules of a polymer composition having particles of conductive filler metal, alloy or reduced metal oxide dispersed therein, said body having a first level of electrical conductance when quiescent and being convertible to a second level of conductance by change of stress applied to the body by stretching or compression or electric field, said body being permeable to the test-fluid and disposed across the conduit whereby, in use, said test fluid flows through said body; and
iii) electrodes connected to said body for connection to an electrical circuit responsive to a change in conductance of said body.
2. A sensor according to
3. A sensor according to
4. A sensor according to
5. A sensor according to
6. A sensor according to
7. A sensor according to
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This invention relates to an analytical device, especially a sensor for detecting and measuring quantities of materials in fluid form.
Known sensors based on a compressible polymer element containing conductive filler and depending on ‘percolation’, that is, electrical contact between filler particles, are subject to various limitations, especially limited range of variation of electrical conductance.
PCT application PCT/GB00/02402 published as WO 00/79546 discloses a sensor for chemical species or biological species or radiation comprising:
The expression ‘polymer composition’ will be used herein to mean one containing polymer and conductive filler particles of metal, alloy or reduced metal oxide, and having a first level of electrical conductance when quiescent and being convertible to a second level of conductance by change of stress applied by stretching or compression or electric field. More details of compositions of this type are available in PCT applications GB98/00206 and GB99/00205, published respectively as WO 98/33193 and 99/38173, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
We have now found advantageous sensors in which the properties of the polymer composition can be put to practical effect. In general, the preferred or optional features set out in PCT/GB00/002402 can be used in conjunction with the sensors according to the invention, in particular:
in the polymer composition the encapsulant polymer phase is highly negative on the triboelectric series, does not readily store electrons on its surface and is permeable to a range of gases and other mobile molecules into the head and/or onto its surface, thus changing the electrical property of the polymer composition.;
the contacting head may include stressing means, for example mechanical compressing or stretching or bending or a source of electric or magnetic field, to bring the polymer composition to the level of conductance appropriate to the required sensitivity of the sensor;
the sensor may afford static or dynamic contacting. For static contacting it may be a portable unit usable by dipping the head into the specimen in a container. For dynamic conducting, it may be supported in a flowing current of specimen or may include its own feed and/or discharge channels and possibly pump means for feeding and or withdrawing specimen. Such pump means is suitably peristaltic as, for example in medical testing;
the properties of the system may change in real time, for example in controlling an engine or chemical process or atmospheric quality;
in a preferred sensor the polymer composition may be excited by a linear or non-linear AC field. A range of techniques may be used to distinguish the signal of interest from noise and from interfering signals, for example—reactance, inductance, signal profile, phase profile, frequency, spatial and temporal coherence;
in another example the polymer composition is held in a transient state by application of an electrostatic charge; then increased ionisation as a consequence of exposure to nuclear radiation changes the electrical resistivity, reactance, impedance or other electrical property of the system;
in a further example a complexing ionophore or other lock and key or adsorbing material is incorporated within the polymer composition. Such materials include crown ethers, zeolites, solid and liquid ion exchangers, biological antibodies and their analogues or other analogous materials. When excited by a DC, linear AC or non-linear AC field, such materials change their electrical property in accordance with the adsorption of materials or contact with sources of radiation. Such materials offer the potential to narrow the bandwidth for adsorbed species and selectivity of the system. In a yet further example an electride, that is a material in which the electron is the sole anion, a typical example of which might be caesium-15-crown-5 prepared by vaporising caesium metal over 15-crown-5, is incorporated within the polymer composition. Other ionophore, zeolite and ion exchange materials might be similarly employed. Such a composition has a low electron work function, typically <<1 electron-volt, such that low DC or non-uniform AC voltages switch it from insulative to conductive phase with decreasing time constant and increasing the bandwidth for adsorbed species and of the system. Such materials may be used to detect the presence of adsorbed materials and or radiation sources.
According to the present invention there is provided a sensor for chemical species or biological species or radiation presenting to a test fluid a polymer composition comprising polymer and conductive filler particles of metal, alloy or reduced metal oxide and having a first level of electrical conductance when quiescent and being convertible to a second level of conductance by change of stress applied by stretching or compression or electric field, in which the polymer composition is characterised by at least one of the features:
In aspect (a) preferably the particles are at least 90% held on a 50 mesh sieve. For most purposes they pass an 18, possibly a larger e g 10, mesh sieve. They appear to be approximately spherical, of average diameter over 150, especially over 300, microns, and usually up to 1, possibly 2, mm. They may be used with advantage in embodiments of the invention in aspects (b) and (c). Preferred forms of the particles are described below.
The particles may be random-packed in a containing vessel without or with mutual adhesion, or supported on a yieldable framework such as foam or textile.
In aspects (a) and (b) the response of the sensor is due to the effect of the species or radiation on the polymer of the polymer composition or of a supporting framework. Preferably this effect is swelling of the polymer widening the separation between the conductive filler particles and thus a decrease in electrical conductance. Such widening lengthens the path of electrons through the polymer coating on the filler particles and thus decreases quantum tunnelling conductance.
In aspect (c) the effect of the mechanically coupled workpiece is to compress the polymer composition, thus decreasing the separation between filler particles, shortening the electron path and increasing tunnelling conductance. The workpiece may act as a mechanical member, for example a piston or lever; instead or in additional it may be may act randomly, for example as particles mixed with particles of the polymer composition. Evidently the operation of aspect (c) can oppose the operation of (a) or (b); this is, however, applicable in specialised conditions.
Each sensor includes means for ohmic connection of the polymer composition to an electrical circuit. To match the very long curve of conductance versus applied stress, the circuit preferably includes field-effect-transistors and logarithmic amplification. To distinguish analytes by rate of change of conductance, differential circuitry may be used. Ohmic connection can be conveniently provided by enclosing a permeable block of polymer composition between grids wholly or partly of ohmic conductive material, for example metal, or light metal mesh backed by plastic or ceramic, or metallised ceramic. If the polymer composition is in sheet form stretched across the channel, spaced ohmic conductors may be for example mechanically held in contact with it or formed on it as a coating such as a metal-rich paint or vapour-deposited layer. Intermediate and/or external conductors, ohmic or not, may comprise a pre-stressed polymer composition, possibly on a polymer or textile support.
Each sensor according to aspect (a) or (b) further includes means to stress the polymer composition to an initial level of electrical conductance susceptible to measurable change as a result of contact with the test fluid. This is conveniently provided by compressing the body by disposing the body in a tube between grids and squeezing the grids together, suitably by the action of an internal sleeve slidable telescope-wise in the tube, possibly using a micrometer. For sheet form composition stressing is suitably by stretching by a sock-donning action or by bending unsupported or supported e g over a former or by deforming a disc to a shallow cone or spheroid.
For each the polymer composition may be stressed before contacting. This may be effected for example by suitable formulation of the composition such as mixing in presence of a volatile liquid removal of which compresses the composition to conductance. In another method its stress/resistance response may be measured after contacting and compared with a standard, typically the same or a duplicate head in equilibrium with blank fluid. Mechanical means of pre-stressing may be for example screw, hydraulic, piezo-electric, magnetic and thermal expansion e g using a bimorph.
A preferred composition is in the form of particles coated with polymer. The coating may be shrunk-on, possibly with compression sufficient for pre-stress to conduction. The particles may be for example granules as described herein, agglomerates thereof or comminuted bulk composition. The coating is permeable to analytes to which the sensor is to be applied. It is also thin enough to permit electrical conduction by quantum tunnelling as described below or, possibly at greater thickness, by conductive filler such as in the composition and/or carbon. The shrunk-on polymer is suitably a thermoset, for example epoxy, maleimide or 3-dimensional olefin resin.
The pre-stressed particles may be used in a loose-packed bed as in
For aspect (c) the option is available to start at non-conductance or ‘start-resistance’ as an alternative to initial stressing to conductance, and use the swelling of the polymer element to produce or increase conductance in the polymer composition.
Instead of or in addition, each sensor may be brought to the first level of conductance by an applied voltage and/or an electrostatic or radiative or magnetic field. The first level of conductance of the polymer composition is preferably substantially zero or at a low value (‘start-resistance’) sufficient to indicate that the sensor is in circuit.
The sensor may be used in combination with external means to modify its response. For example the fluid may be contacted, upstream of the head, with a sorbent effective to remove one trace material, leaving another to be determined by the sensor. In a particular embodiment the sorbent may be disposed close to the sensor head, thus avoiding a separate treatment step. Conversely a sorptive source of co-determinable material may be used. Drying and (respectively) humidification are examples.
In another example, suitable for very low concentrations of trace material, such a sorbent may be used to take up and store the whole amount of such material over a time period, then heated to desorb the material and pass it to the sensor.
Combination set-ups used in analysis may include, for example:
Swellable polymers in aspect (c) and sorbents used to modify the response of the sensor may be selected from for example:
Structure-Wise:
compressed, sintered or bonded particulate;
coatings on high-surface support such as honeycomb or foam or textile;
ion-exchange resins;
chromatographic agents;
Chemical Composition:
chosen according to solubility parameter or chemical reactivity, for example for hydrocarbons, oxygenated hydrocarbons, acidics, basics, water, viruses, bacteria.
Any of the sensors may of course be used to determine the presence of an analyte or register the absence of an analyte that ought to be present.
In the polymer composition the metal, alloy or reduced metal oxide may be for example in one or more of the following states:
The general definition of the preferred polymer composition exemplified by (iv,v) is that it exhibits tunnelling conductance when stressed. This is particularly a property of polymer compositions in which a filler selected from powder-form metals or alloys, electrically conductive oxides of said elements and alloys, and mixtures thereof are in admixture with a non-conductive elastomer, having been mixed in a controlled manner whereby the filler is dispersed within the elastomer and remains structurally intact and the voids present in the starting filler powder become infilled with elastomer and particles of filler become set in close proximity during curing of the elastomer. Preferred conductive filler particles have a secondary structure including a spiky or dendritic surface texture, evident from a bulk density less than one third of their solid density before incorporation into the polymer composition. Polymer compositions exhibiting tunnelling conductance are the Quantum Tunnelling Composites available from PERATECH LTD, Darlington, England, under the trade name ‘QTC’.
For a sensor available for more than one determination, the polymer composition is reversibly convertible between the levels of electrical conductance. However, in specialised uses this may not be necessary: then the composition may be non- or incompletely-convertible.
The invention includes items characteristic of its aspects, such as may be separately marketable, especially the QTC elements described with reference to the drawings.
In these drawings, where a fluid flow direction is indicated, this is for convenience of description, not for technical limitation.
Referring to
To use the sensor, a steady flow of reference fluid, for example dry pure air or of pure water, is set up; then tube 16 and thus also grid 18 is adjusted downwards until the external circuit registers a change in resistance from a starting value to a lower value due to conduction by the polymer composition. Then the fluid is changed to the sample to be analysed. Resistance is measured allowing time to reach a steady state.
A modified version of this sensor is shown in
Referring to
Referring to
In the sectional elevations of
Referring to
Referring to
In
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
The sensor of
A sensor designed to use the principle of
The sensor of
In
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
conductive filler:
nickel 287 (INCO Corp)
polymer
‘SILCOSET 153’ (Amber Chemicals: acetoxy-cure
silicone rubber with fumed silica reinforcer)
nickel:polymer ratio
8:1 w/w
granule size
through 18 mesh, on 50 mesh.
The contacting unit is connected to a source of dry nitrogen at 1 atm pressure alternatively direct or by way of a bubbler containing the analyte in liquid form. From the upper and lower electrodes 18,14 leads run to a circuit comprising:
The other graphs of
The Table reports results for 3 sensors in which, respectively, the nickel conductive filler was dispersed in silicone, polyurethane and polyvinylalcohol. For each determination the QTC was compressed to approximately 20 ohms. The nitrogen flow rate was 50 ml/min, saturated with vapour at room temperature. In each box the resistance in ohms is given for 30 seconds, 60 seconds and saturation (i e no further increase), the times being counted from the start of the change of resistance. It was also observed that on stopping the supply of analyte but continuing pure nitrogen flow, the resistance decreased immediately towards its stating value. The sensor is therefore very effective for showing failure of supply of a desired constituent of a fluid stream.
Referring to
Bloor, David, Lussey, David, Laughlin, Paul Jonathan, Hands, Philip James Walton
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